The Post-16 Education Experiences of Transgender Young People in the UK: Implications for Educational Psychology Practice

Aims: This study explores the post-16 education experiences of transgender young people to inform the practice of Educational Psychologists. Currently, little is known about the needs of transgender students, and such knowledge is essential to inform the implementation of appropriate and effective supports for these youth in schools. EPs are uniquely placed to provide intervention at the individual, school and familial levels to support transgender students. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven A-level transgender students. Interview data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Findings: Five overarching themes emerged from participants’ narratives: Social transition at school; Navigating school as a transgender student; Bullying, transphobia and peer relations; Students’ ambivalent experiences of staff; and Experiences at the systemic level of school. Limitations: Participants were recruited from community Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth groups. By engaging in these groups, they accessed both direct and indirect support in relation to school. This may have influenced their experiences reported in this study as their needs may not have been as extensive as transgender students without access to such groups/supports. Conclusions: Findings identify that transgender young people experience unique challenges and have distinct needs at school. Findings support previous evidence that transgender students often experience negative school environments; however, this did not diminish the complexities of participants’ experiences as individuals and as a group of students. Implications of the findings for EP practice are discussed.